Ticket cutter and receptacle



(No Model.)

' A. I. B

LANCHARD.

2 'Sheets-Shet 2.

TICKET CUTTER AND RECEPTAGLE.

Patented Sept. 29, 1896.-

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(railroad-tickets, the cutter being employed to UNiTED STATE-s ALLEN I. BLANCHARD, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

TICKET CUTTER AND RECEPTACLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 568,400, dated September 29, 1896.

Application filed April 2l, 1896. Serial No. 588,420. (No model.)

T0 @ZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALLEN l. BLANCHARD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook, in the State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Ticket Cutter and Receptacle, of which the following is a description, reference being had to the accompanying' drawings, forming part of this specification.

My invention relates more particularly to ticket-cutters intended for use in forming separate the printed blank into a stub portion and a passengers portion upon an irregular line, which indicates the station to which the ticketis sold. One form of such cutter is shown and described in my prior patent, No. allele, dated December 9, 1890.

My invention consists, first, in the novel form of the cutter itself, and, second, in the novel combination of a cutter of this character with a support and ticket-receptacle, all as will be hereinafter more fully described, and particularly pointed out in my claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a perspective view of my combined ticket cutter and receptacle with the lid thereof approximately closed; Fig. 2, a corresponding view with the lid thrown open; Fig. 3, an enlarged vertical cross-section through the middle of Fig. l; Fig. Ll, a ticket-blank adapted for use with my improved cutter and receptacle; Fig. 5, a view of the cutter and receptacle corresponding to Fig. l, with a ticketblank inserted therein in position to be severed to form a ticket and stub; and Fig. 6, a View of the ticket-blank after it has been so severed.

The same letters of reference are used to indicate identical parts in all the figures.

The first feature of my invention, as before stated, relates to the novel form of the cutter itself, and in this respect it is independent of the support and receptacle, whose combination with the cutter forms the second feature of my invention. So far as the novel form of the cutter itself is concerned,V the invention relates simply to the cutter-blade, which may be used independently of any ticket-receptacle. In my prior patent before referred to the cutter-blade is provided with a straight tearing edge having a point or projection midway of its length, by which when a ticketblank was torn against the edge of the cutter the projection or point upon the latter would form a notch upon the margin of one portion of the blank and a corresponding projection upon the margin of the other portion. That cutter and my present one are designed to be used in connection with ticket-blanks which have printed upon them two adjacent parallel columns of station-names. In forming a ticket and stub from such a blank the cutter is placed longitudinally over the blank with its edge occupying the space between the two parallel columns of names, and with its point or projection opposite the name of the station to which it is desired the ticket shall read. Upon then tearing the blank in two against the edge of the cutter a notch will be formed opposite the name of such station upon one portion of the ticket, preferably the passen gers portion, and a corresponding projection opposite the name of the same station upon theother portion or stub of the ticket. The name of the selling or starting station is printed or written upon the ticket-blank prior to its separation into stubV and passengers portions, so that when so separated the ticket will read from such selling or starting station to the destination station indicated by the notch Or projection upon the margin of the ticket.

As before stated, the cutter shown and described in my aforesaid prior patent was provided with a single point or projection upon its tearing. edge, so that a single notch was formed opposite the name of the destination station upon one part of the ticket and a single projection opposite the corresponding name upon the other part of the ticket. It has been found that where the ticket-blank is divided upon a line forminga single notch and projection opposite the destination station the ticket is not sufficiently protected either against accidental mutilation or fraudulent manipulation. The projection upon the one portion of the ticket is liable to be accidentally torn off or purposely removed, in which event it is not possible to tell to what station the ticket originally read. So, too, it has been found that the single notch opposite the destination station upon the other portion of the ticket can be so filled up as to escape IOO observation and a new notch be torn in the ticket opposite another station, so that dishonest agents may in this manner and by collusion with the train-conductors or otherwise be enabled to defraud the company.

Itis the object of the first feature of my present invention to provide a cutter by which the name of the destination station may be indicated in such manner that the ticket cannot possibly be altered without detection, either by filling up the notch in the edge of one portion of it or tearing the projection from the edge of the other portion, or otherwise.

In the present instance my novel cutter or cutter-blade A forms the hinged top or lid of a ticket-receptacle B, which consists of a rectangular boX, preferably of metal, and either open or closed at its bottom. At its opposite ends it is provided in the present instance with lugs C, through which screws may be passed to secure it to a counter or table or other fiat surface. The lid A is hinged to the opposite corners of the box B at one side, and the opposite edge of the lid constitutes a straight tearing edge. At or near its middle the lid A has secured to its under side, in a recess formed for its reception, a plate D, projecting outward beyond the edge of the lid, the opposite edges of its projecting portion being, in this instance, curved in concave lines, each of which terminates in a sharp point or projection at the extreme outer end of the plate D, these two poin ts or projections E and F being separated by a notch G. The open top of the receptacle Bis in the present instance provided along its edges at its opposite ends and outer or front side with a raised margin or surface Il, against which the outer edge and ends of the lid A tit when the lat-ter is closed and pressed down against the top of the receptacle.

At one end the lid A is provided upon its under side, near the corner at which it is hinged to the body of the receptacle B, with a lug I, the lower end of which lug when the lid is closed passes through a slot in the rear wall of the receptacle B, as seen in Fig. 3, and bears against the upper end of a flat spring J, secured to the rear side of the receptacle, withits upper end opposite the lower end of the slot referred to. The engagement ot this spring with the lug I oi' the lid will prevent the latter being entirely closed by its gravityand normally maintain it in the position shown in Figs. l and 3, so that sufficient space will be left between its tearing edge and the top of the receptacle B to permit the insertion of the ticket-blank. Vhen the blank has been inserted and adjusted to proper position, the edge of the lid may be pressed down by hand against the resistance of the spring J, and when it is released, after the ticket has been formed, the spring will restore it to the position shown.

Secured upon the under side of the lid A is an adjustable ticket-gage K, consisting of a long thin plate bent longitudinally at right angles and adjustably secured to the under side of the lid by screws L L, passed through slots .in the plate and entering the lid. This gage may be adjusted, as desired, to accommodate ticket-blanks having stubs of different widths, so that when a blank is inserted between the lid and body of the receptacle until its left-hand ed ge contacts with the gage K the division-line between the two rows of station names and numbers upon it will lie immediately beneath the straight tearing edge of the lid.

As before stated, this new cutter, like my prior one, is adapted to be used with ticketblanks having the names of a series of stations printed in adjacent parallel columns, between which columns the blank is severed to form the passengers portion and the stub or ticket-agents portion, and in Fig. 4 there is shown one form of such ticket-blanks. Assuming, now, that with the blank shown in Fig. 4: it is desired to form a ticket reading from Chicago to Brice, the ticket-agent will take the ticket-blank in his right hand and slip it under the lid A of the receptacle B until the left-hand edge of the blank abuts against the gage K, at the same time adjusting the ticket longitudinally to bring the name of the destination station, Bricef in the right-hand column immediately opposite the notch G between the two projections E and F of the tearing edge of the lid. lVith his left hand he will then press the lid down firmly and then tear the right-hand portion of the blank oi'f against the edge of the lid, in the act of tearing preferably first drawing the right-hand portion-of the blank firmly to vertical position to cause the projections E F to form the proper notches in the margin of the ticket and then tearing it downward from its upper end along the straight edge of the lid. When the right-hand portion of the ticket has been severed in this manner, the operator removes his hand from the lid, whereupon the latter will immediately spring upward to normal position and release the left-hand or stub portion of the ticket,which has been held beneath it, Fig. G, and such stub portion will drop into the receptacle B. In this manner the stub portion oi' the ticket is automatically disposed of at the time the passengers portion of the ticket is severed from it, without any care or labor whatever on the part of the operator, and is stored and preserved in the ticket-recepta-cle. At suitable intervals the stubs which have accumulated in the receptacle may be removed therefrom, the hinged lid at such times being swung up to the position shown in Fig. 2 to give access to the interior of the receptacle. It will be seen that when a ticket-blank is severed in this manner by means of my novel cutter there will be formed two notches upon the margin of the ticket portion of the blank, one notch upon either side of and immediately adjacent the name of the destination station, and the latter will IOO IIO

stand opposite and preferably partly upon a small projection upon the margin of such portion of the ticket, between the two notches, while upon the stub portion of the blank there will be formed a projecting portion having a notch immediately opposite the name of the destination station and bearing the number of such station,with projections upon either side of said notch.

It will thus be seen that the name of the destination station upon the passengers portion of the ticket is so thoroughly and permanently indicated by the notches upon the opposite sides of it that alteration or fraudulent manipulation of this portion of the ticket is practically impossible. Even if the projection between the notches be torn off the name of the destination station may be determined by said notches7 a-nd the portion of the margin of the ticket torn away is so large that it is not practicable to replace it without detection. On the other hand, the projecting portion which is left adhering to the edge of the stub of the ticket and carries the two projections with the intermediate notch is so large that its removal and the attaching of a correspond-l ing portion at some other point along the margin of the stub without detection is not feasible. It will therefore be seen that my novel cutter, which separates the ticket upon a line which forms not only a projection 0pposite the destination station, as heretofore, but also forms two deep notches upon each side of such name, produces a stub and ticket portion which are not liable to accidental mutilation or fraudulent manipulation.

In cutters of this character it is not essential that the tearing edge of the cutter-blade should be perfectly straight or that the two portions of its tearing edge upon opposite sides of its projection or projections should stand in line with each other.

In some cutters having a single projection upon their tearing edges it has heretofore been the practice to have the two portions of the edge of the cutter upon opposite sides of its projection inclined away from said projection at an angle to each other, with the lines thereof intersecting each other at a point opposite the projection.

The essential novelty of my new cutter consists in the provision of the two projections and intermediate notch instead of the single projection heretofore employed, and such being the case this feature of my invention is not restricted to a cutter having a straight tearing edge, but is applicable as well to a cutter having the portions of its tearing edge on opposite sides of the projections inclined relatively to each other. It will also be understood that inasmuch as the two projections with the intermediate notch constitute the essential feature of the cutter it is not material whether such projections are integral with the edge of the cutter or are upon a separate plate secured to the cutter, as shown in the drawings in the present case. There the cutter is to be employed independently of the ticket-receptacle,it can be conveniently made of a strip of sheet metal, in which event the two projections and notch will be stamped or otherwise formed directly upon the edge of such strip.

So far as I am aware, I am not only the first in the art to make a cutter-blade of any sort having double projections and an intermediate notch,such.as described,but the first to employ a cutter-blade having either a single projection or double projections, as the lid of a ticketreceptacle, and combine it with such receptacle in the manner described, so that the stub portions of the ticket may drop into the receptacle without handlingafter the passengers portions have been severed. Such being the case, this latter feature of my invention is not restricted to the particular form of the cutter nor to the particular shape or construction of the ticket-receptacle,but contemplates,

broadly,the combination of a ticket-receptacle with a hinged lid having a tearing edge provided with one or more projections and coperating with the body of the receptacle in the manner described.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claimn 1. The herein-described cutter for forming tickets of the character specified, consisting of the blade or body A having a tearing edge provided with the two points or projections E F and intermediate notch Gr, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. lThe herein-described cutter for forming tickets of the character specified, consisting of the blade or body A having a straight tearing edge provided approximately midway of its length with the two points or projections E F and intermediate notch G, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. In a combined ticket cutter and receptacle, the combination of the ticket-receptacle B having an open top, with the hinged lid- A provided with a tearing edge having one or more projections and coperating with the body B in the manner and for the purpose described.

fl. In a combined ticket cutter and receptacle, the combination of the ticket-receptacle B having an open top, with the hinged lid A having a tearing edge provided with one or more projections and coperating with the top of the receptacle B, and the adjustable ticket-gage K mounted upon the under side of the lid A, substantially as and for the purpose described.

5. In a combined ticket cutter and receptacle, the combination of the receptacle B having an open top, with the hinged lid having a tearing edge provided with one or more projections and coperating with the receptacle B, and a spring coperating With said lid to normally hold it in slightly open position, for the purpose set forth.

6. In a combined ticket cutter and receptacle, the combination of the receptacle B IOO IIO

having an open top, With the hinged lid hav ing a tearing edge provided with one or more projections and cooperating with the receptacle B, the adjustable ticket-gage K mounted upon the Linder side of the lid A, and the spring J cooperating with said lid to normally hold it in slightly open position, for the purpose set forth. Y

7. The combination of the ticketreceptacle B having the open top, with the hinged lidA having the tearing edge provided with the projections E F and intermediate notch G and cooperating with the top of the receptacle I3 in the manner and for the purpose described.

8. The combination of the ticket-receptacle B having the open top, With the hinged lid A having the tearing edge provided with the projections E F and intermediate notch G and cooperating with the top of the receptacle D in the manner described, and the spring J for normally holding the. lid A in slightly open position, as set `forth.

9. The combination of the ticket-receptacle B having the open top provided With the raised margin [I around its edge, with the hinged lid A having the tearing edge provided With the projections E F and intermediate notch G and cooperating with the margin H oi the top of the receptacle B, the ticket-gage K ad justably secured to the under side of the lid A, and the spring J for normally holding the lid in slightly open position.

ALLEN I. BLANCHARD. rit/nesses:

EDWARD Rnnron, LEoNoRA XVISEMAN. 

